Project Background
Rippling is building a new payroll analytics dashboard for mid-market HR admins. The launch is now 4 weeks behind plan, and the CRO has already committed the feature to 20 customers before the end of the quarter. You are the program manager responsible for getting the project back on track without causing a quality or compliance issue.
The core team includes 4 backend engineers, 2 frontend engineers, 1 designer, 1 data engineer, 1 QA lead, and 1 product manager. The original delivery window was 16 weeks; there are now 6 weeks left before the quarter-end deadline. The dashboard depends on payroll data pipelines, role-based permissions, and legal review for state-level reporting language.
Key Stakeholders
The CRO wants a customer-facing launch this quarter to support renewals. The Head of Engineering wants to avoid burnout and refuses to add unplanned weekend work. Legal will not approve launch if any state tax disclaimer is inaccurate. Customer Success wants at least 10 design partners live before general availability.
Constraints
- Remaining budget: $95,000
- Time remaining: 6 weeks
- Team size fixed at 10 people; no new headcount
- 3 critical dependencies: permissions service update, payroll ETL stability, legal sign-off
- Current status: backend is 70% complete, frontend 50%, QA has not started end-to-end testing
Complications
- The permissions service team says their API update may slip by 2 more weeks.
- One senior frontend engineer is leaving in 3 weeks.
- Two enterprise customers need California and Texas reporting at launch, while Legal says support for all 50 states will take at least 10 more weeks.
Your Task
- Build a recovery plan for the remaining 6 weeks with milestones and owners.
- Recommend what scope to cut, phase, or protect to hit the deadline.
- Explain how you would align Sales, Legal, Engineering, and Customer Success on a revised launch plan.
- Define success metrics for launch readiness and the first 30 days after release.
- Identify the top risks, trigger points, and contingency actions.
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